The Moravian Church Northern Province (MCNP) seeks a five-year grant for partial support of the Moravian Clergy Connections Project. Conducted in partnership with the Moravian Church Southern Province (MCSP), the project consists of four initiatives that will form Moravian pastors from throughout the United States through spiritual direction, coaching, mentoring, cohort groups, and an interprovincial retreat that brings clergy together for mutual learning and support. They will collaborate with Moravian Theological Seminary to develop educational components and with the Moravian Ministries Foundation in America to seek ongoing funding. To sustain the effort, the MCNP will use earnings from an endowed fund, and the MCSP will draw on proceeds of a recent estate gift. Their goal is to enhance clergy health and leadership to equip them to support one another and their congregations to be more vital agents of God’s transforming love in the world.
Massachusetts Baptist Multicultural Ministries (MBMM) is a 501(c)(3) organization whose vision statement is “Weaving God’s Love Across Cultures.” And our mission is simple; we call it “ACE”: Advocacy for, Celebration & Empowerment of New Americans.
Since 2007, MBMM has assisted immigrant pastors with a number of cultural, linguistic, practical and socio-economic challenges with designing and implementing programs that meet the diverse challenges of ethnic pastors and their most imminent needs. Both the small white churches’ pastors and immigrant pastoral leaders benefit from our programs that challenge them to step out of their comfort zones, culturally and theologically, to assist them in improving collegial relations, intercultural and ecumenical, professional and personal growth, and learning. To this end, Lilly Grant resources would aid us in the Thriving Pastoral Ministry Program (TPMP) to support these pastors, allowing them the framework to appreciate and embrace diverse theological and cultural ministerial praxis, empowering pastoral agency to thrive in the ministry. Establishing dynamic teams of different cultural and theological backgrounds, supported and facilitated by a trained coach, each Ethnic Clergy Group (ECG) and Intercultural Clergy Group (ICG) bridges the cultural and theological silos, providing an intercultural peer network to: pray for and with, learn from one another, offer opportunities for thinking together and working with richness of theological and cultural diversity, address solutions to issues present in current ministerial settings in the US, and doing so within a climate of embracing hospitality and mutual accountability. TPMP immersion will imbue pastors with a spirit of radical hospitality, becoming pastoral agency for change, able to lead their respective faith communities, imitating the values of the Kingdom of God. The principal of the TPMP program objectives is to provide the ECGs and ICGs with a 4-year development plan. MBMM will hire a Program Manager and Consultants, including: Cultural Advocates, Peer Coaching, Program Evaluators; and train coaches to run the TPMP, which will be resourced and supported by MBMM. Aligned with the Thriving in Ministry Initiative 2020, we pray for the opportunity and resources to support the full scope of this work outlined herein.
Project Name:
Institute for Advanced Pastoral Studies
Description:
Christ Church Cranbrook has received a five-year grant to re-establish the Institute for Advanced Pastoral Studies (IAPS) with its partner congregation, Hartford Memorial Baptist Church. Originally founded by Christ Church Cranbrook in 1957, the Institute for Advanced Pastoral Studies aims to build clergy leadership capacities, connections and networks in Metro Detroit. Gathering intentionally ecumenical and racially diverse groups of clergy into cohorts, IAPS will host an annual conference, a five-day summer intensive seminar, and monthly learning and support groups that explore adaptive leadership and its potential for building the Beloved Community. The program will therefore provide participants with the opportunity to develop the spiritual grounding and skills necessary for personal growth, congregational leadership, and civic engagement. Administered by Christ Church Cranbrook, learning sites will be located in local congregations and allied organizations throughout Metro Detroit.
Project Name:
Mentoring for Thriving in Ministry in the City
Description:
New York Theological Seminary (NYTS) seeks a five-year grant for its Mentoring for Thriving in Ministry in the City project. This three-pronged project seeks to develop effective mentoring for pastors serving in urban ministries, especially NYTS graduates as well as other pastors in the New York City metropolitan region. The project will include a research component to examine and understand the effective mentoring practices for pastors in diverse urban ministry contexts. NYTS also will introduce mentoring for all ministerial candidates in its degree programs, many of whom already serve congregations, and increase resources for mentoring for graduates and other pastors in the region. To sustain this project, NYTS will fully integrate mentoring into degree programs for pastoral ministry, create a permanent office that provides resources for mentoring to pastors, and share the findings of its research through academic publications and other appropriate media.
Project Name:
Esperanza for Pastoral Leaders in Hispanic Ministry
Description:
The Mexican American Catholic College is partnering with the Lilly Endowment to strengthen existing programs and launch new initiatives that help pastoral leaders thrive in ministry as they serve in congregations of color. MACC received $1,000,000 to be spent over a three-year period beginning in January 2021 and continuing through December 2023.
The primary focus of the grant is to address the glaring inequities of access to integral ministerial formation and higher education for Latino(a) lay men and women who discern a call to ministry but cannot afford to receive the formation and credentials needed for employment as a Lay Ecclesial Minister. To accomplish this and in partnership with the Archdiocese of San Antonio, MACC has established the Institute for Lay Ecclesial Ministry and Service. The Archdiocese also committed a matching grant to support the staffing and programs of the Institute and other MACC programs that serve the local Church.
Additionally, through close collaboration with national partners in ministry formation, the project is strengthening supportive programs for Women and Men Religious in Hispanic Ministry, Priests, Seminarians, and Deacon Candidates. These programs include language and
intercultural studies, spiritual accompaniment (especially of young leaders), and supportive peer
groups to keep the hard-working pastoral leaders hopeful and healthy.
“Esperanza - Hope” is MACC’s overarching theme for the project to provide integral ministerial formation and resources for pastoral ministers to thrive. MACC believes that hope-filled ministers can fill the empty hearts of families mourning the loss of loved ones to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hope-filled ministers can give direction to communities of color paralyzed in fear and uncertainty, without trustworthy guidance. Hope-filled ministers can heal hearts and transform structures ravaged by generations of systemic racism. Hope can animate and strengthen Pastoral Leaders in Hispanic Ministry who are weary and disoriented.
Project Name:
Part-Time Pastor; Full-Time Church Program
Description:
The Church of the Brethren, through its Office of Ministry, requests a five-year grant for the Part-Time Pastor; Full-Time Church program, an effort to establish a network of care and support for multivocational pastors in the Church of the Brethren. (Multivocational pastors split their time and energy between congregational ministry and other vocational commitments.) A recent survey found that two-thirds of the 900 Brethren pastors serve congregations as multivocational clergy. To support these pastors, the Church of the Brethren will send representatives to visit, listen and connect with multivocational pastors to understand more fully the challenges that they face. After the listening tours, multivocational pastors will be invited to join peer colleague groups to explore common leadership challenges with other clergy and to connect with experienced mentors who have served in similar ministry settings. To sustain the program, the Church of the Brethren will establish a modest fee structure, encourage middle judicatories to include funding in their budgets, and seek support from the denomination’s Council of District Executives and its Ministers Association.